Masera, with a complicated expression, was looking at my stomach with the gaze one reserves for something sacred.
The problem was, all that was in my stomach was the roast chicken, meat pie, lasagna, salad, and dessert I had eaten for dinner.
He covered his mouth with one hand and muttered seriously.
“The time you were tying your shoelaces and almost threw up too…”
No, that was just because I overate at the restaurant and almost threw up while tying my shoelaces!
“It’s not the kind of blessed event you’re thinking of.”
I just ate well!
I tried to explain, but he was so lost in his own delusions that he wouldn’t even touch the tip of my finger.
“We don’t know yet, so it’s better to be careful in advance.”
‘I finally came to a place with a good atmosphere!’
I couldn’t help but feel disappointed as I looked at the table set with candles, wine, and luxurious snacks.
“I’m still going to eat the cheese and canapés, though.”
Apart from being disheartened by failing to create a romantic atmosphere by clinking wine glasses, the snacks looked delicious.
After scraping up all the snacks like that, I finished my bath and quietly looked down at Masera, who was lying straight on the sofa.
“…Are you asleep?”
At my regretful voice, his eyelids slowly lifted.
“Yeah.”
“Why are you sleeping there?”
“Because if I make a mistake, two people will be in danger.”
One person wanted to be in great danger, just for today, and I was very disappointed in Masera.
“Still, you should sleep in the bed, not on the sofa. I’ll just hold your hand and sleep.”
“No. Given the atmosphere here, I don’t trust myself.”
I can’t believe he wouldn’t give in even when I was seducing him this much…
That night, he didn’t touch a single hair on my head.
Three days later.
“I told you it wasn’t!”
On the way back to the official residence from the hospital, I expressed my frustration by hitting Masera’s chest.
The results had just come out that we had not succeeded in human alchemy.
“I’m so upset that I couldn’t eat spicy chili chicken yesterday! I was the only one eating healthy food!”
“It’s always good to be careful, though.”
Beyond Masera, who was insisting that his self-restraint was justified, I saw a banner hanging at the entrance to the official residence and opened my mouth in shock.
-Congratulations- Welcome our cute baby angel
“Who would…”
What overzealous person planned this?
At this rate, the whole world will find out!
I told Dahlia, who came to greet us, about the test results and begged her to take it down quickly.
Poo-ooo…
Beyond the flustered Dahlia, the sound of a deflated party elephant trumpet could be heard.
“Huh? It was just overeating?”
The servants and soldiers wearing cone hats and holding a congratulatory cake were flustered.
They were surprise party supplies prepared for Eugene, who was supposed to return for the holidays.
What a bunch of overzealous people!
“…What is all this?”
Just then, a youthful voice was heard from behind.
Eugene, in his school uniform, was walking towards the official residence with a surprised look on his face.
“The baby angel is back!”
“Eugene, I missed you!”
Starting with the shout of one of the servants who improvised, it instantly turned into a welcome party for Eugene.
“I came a day early, how did you know?”
“Don’t underestimate the General’s intelligence.”
His green eyes wavered at the ‘baby angel’ part of the banner, but he looked quite touched.
“Anyway, I’m back.”
Eugene, who had grown from a child to a mature boy while we hadn’t seen him, looked up at Masera and me and smiled.
“Welcome back! Do you know how much I missed you?”
He was still young enough to hug and kiss.
I had to do it a lot before his prickly adolescence came.
“But… why did you get so chubby?”
Eugene was chubbier than before he left. Like a grandson who had visited his grandmother’s house during summer vacation.
We had lunch together with Eugene’s favorite foods and talked about his school life.
“I got into the Quantum Class.”
At Eugene’s calm words, Major Rodriguez, who had heard the news and attended the banquet, widened his eyes.
“The Quantum Class that only a small number of gifted students who pass the test can enter, and receive special lectures from professors at Aiford University?”
It was not just a gifted class, but a super-elite course where they receive special education, graduate early at the age of 16, and enter university.
It turned out that Eugene was a mathematical genius.
“Eugene seems to have taken after his mother. The Esat people are excellent in science and engineering. If I hadn’t joined the army, I would have gone to engineering school.”
I, who was definitely inclined towards the humanities, muttered with a dazed face as I listened to Major Rodriguez’s explanation.
“Why didn’t I know?”
I was ashamed of myself for only asking a kid who could solve square roots questions like, ‘If you add the legs of four lions and one deer, how many are there?’
Was I not interested in the kid enough?
Seeing me confused, Eugene blushed and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“I didn’t show it on purpose until now. Dad said I shouldn’t stand out to people. He wanted me to grow up as an ordinary child.”
The Defeated Empire massacred the Esat people, who had produced many authorities in the fields of science and physics, because they feared their technological development.
That’s why Eugene received scores that would make him look like an ordinary child on the test, and went to school in a regular class.
Then, it seems that he was annoyed by a kid who was number one in the class and looked down on his classmates.
He wanted to punish that kid, so he took the number one spot, but after the next test, the parents came and made a huge fuss about cheating and whatnot?
“There was a problem at the 12th grade level that was accidentally included on this test, how could a mere 1st grader get the answer right? It’s not just a guess, there’s even a detailed explanation? Unless they received the answer sheet in advance from a teacher who was pressured by the Grand Duke’s family…”
I don’t know if the parents used a trick to deliberately set a trap, but it was definitely strange for an elementary school student to solve a math problem at the level of a high school senior.
Eugene eventually asked them to give him a similar problem again, and then showed everyone how to solve the problem on the blackboard.
At that time, a professor from Aiford University, who was the test proctor for the gifted class, happened to be there, and he took Eugene to his lab for a test and said this.
“He’s a genius beyond a gifted child.”
The professor was very interested in Eugene, who was making even the existing Quantum Class kids look like ordinary people.
He keeps coming to buy him ice cream and fish and chips?
He must have marked him as a prospective graduate student.
Eugene, who had finished a very interesting and intriguing story, looked at Masera.
“uncle, they said they’ll refund the tuition. I don’t have to pay until graduation. They said they’ll let me go to Aiford University for free too.”
Eugene even told us about his full scholarship in a nonchalant tone.
“Good job. I’ll buy you anything you want.”
Masera also responded calmly.
In contrast, I, unable to hide my excitement, jumped up and shouted.
“We need to change the banner! The official residence’s adorable genius Eugene, entering the Quantum Class and receiving a full scholarship! The birth of a space science master who will send humanity to the moon-“
“Don’t.”
Eugene finally became serious at my excessive excitement.
Masera, Eugene, and I were sitting on a large river pier, enjoying a picnic.
Under the blue sky, the magnificent scenery surrounded by the icy river and white mountain range made me feel like I was in a masterpiece painting.
“In the past, that mountain range served as a natural fortress. It protected us from enemy invasions and came to have the meaning of protection? That’s why it’s called the ‘Crown of the Snow Queen’.”
Eugene nodded, biting into a strawberry jam sandwich.
“But big sis, why does war happen?”
“Resources, religion, ideology… there are many reasons, but in the end, it’s because of people’s greed.”
“If there have been wars since ancient times, will there be another war in the future?”
“There won’t be.”
We will enter the Cold War era in the future, but at least as long as we are alive, there will be no major wars like before.
Masera, who was sitting with a fishing rod in a hole he had broken in the ice, turned his head and looked at Eugene.
“Did something happen?”
At Masera’s question, Eugene hesitated for a moment before parting his lips.
“I still don’t understand the thoughts of adults.”
“That’s natural. Even adults can’t understand each other.”
“Hmm…”
A moment of silence flowed.
Under the black hair that swayed in the wind blowing over the mountain range, Eugene’s green eyes seemed to sink slightly.
“I don’t really understand what the hatred of adults is. They pretend to like you and hate you inside, and I thought they hated you, but they actually feel sorry for you and miss you.”
I stared at Eugene intently. It feels like he’s learned something important but is keeping it a secret to himself?
Eugene doesn’t usually open up about what’s on his mind.
Whether he had the same thought as me, Masera looked back at the fishing rod.
“Eugene, tell me when you’re ready. I’ll wait until a fish is caught.”
It was Masera’s words, who hadn’t caught a fish for an hour.
“I’ll tell you as a celebration when I catch a big one.”
At Eugene’s joking words, I smiled.
“You’ll have to catch a shark or something?”
“Are there sharks in the river?”
“It’s a section that mixes with the sea, so there’s a 1% chance?”
Piiiiing-!
As soon as I finished speaking, the fishing rod bent tautly.
“Ooh.”
…And I actually caught a baby shark.
Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo 🦈😂